The present invention relates to an arrangement for retrieving large-calibre ammunition, such as shells, from an ammunition magazine and transferring these to a loading and ramming position, in which the respective ammunition unit is located directly behind and coaxially aligned with a barrel of a large-calibre weapon, which weapon is mounted in such a way that it can pivot around a horizontal axis to assume different elevation positions, which arrangement comprises a swing arm which is mounted in such a way that it can pivot around the said horizontal axis between a retrieving position and a delivery position for each ammunition unit, and an ammunition pickup unit which is mounted on the swing arm at a distance from the swing arm""s axis of rotation in such a way that it can pivot, the ammunition pickup unit being arranged to assume a first angular position relative to the swing arm when this assumes its retrieving position, and to assume a second angular position relative to the swing arm when this assumes its delivery position, the position of the ammunition pickup unit upon assuming the first angular position being such that a recoil movement can be made by the barrel without it colliding with the ammunition pickup unit. In particular, but not exclusively, the invention relates to such an arrangement for mounting in a gun turret of an armoured vehicle, where by means of a simple construction the arrangement makes possible direct transferring of ammunition units from the magazine to the weapon and makes possible a very compact design of the gun turret.
Gun turrets which house large-calibre weapons, such as mortars and possibly guns, and where the ammunition magazine is located relatively close to the weapon, have previously been difficult to give a relatively small and compact design on account of the mechanism for retrieving and loading the ammunition requiring space so that it is not in the way of the rear end of the weapon when this recoils upon firing. In order to make possible handling of ammunition in this way, known mechanisms have had a complicated and relatively bulky design, which has made it difficult to give the gun turret a compact design at the same time.
SE 513 006 C2 describes a known arrangement of the type described in the introduction for loading a large-calibre weapon (gun) with artillery shells, where the ammunition pickup unit is arranged, after insertion of a shell from a magazine located to the rear, first to be pivoted around a rear axis by means of guide curves attached to the gun and a link system into such an angular position relative to the swing arm that the shell can assume an angle that approximately corresponds to the elevation of the gun, after which the shell is released from the ammunition pickup unit and is transferred to a separate shell cradle which is then moved sideways on guide rails attached to the gun into a position for insertion of the shell into the barrel of the gun by means of a ram on the cradle. This arrangement is relatively complicated and does not allow direct transferring of a shell from a magazine to a loading position by means of only one pivoting movement of the swing arm and the ammunition pickup unit mounted upon it.
SE 500 600 C2 shows a known mortar arrangement, where two or more barrels are arranged parallel to each other in a common cradle.
An object of the present invention is to achieve an arrangement for retrieving ammunition units from an ammunition magazine and thereafter direct transferring of the same to a loading position by means of a simple device which takes up little space in a gun turret and which can be adapted to retrieve ammunition units from ammunition magazines located at different places in the gun turret with ammunition either oriented essentially horizontally and pointing forwards in a rear part of a superstructure of the gun turret, or oriented vertically or horizontally in a lower tray of the gun turret.
To fulfil this object, the arrangement according to the invention described in the introduction is characterized in that the ammunition pickup unit is mounted on the swing arm in such a way that, while assuming a second angular position relative to the swing arm in which an extension of the longitudinal axis of the ammunition unit essentially intersects the horizontal axis of rotation of the swing arm, it transfers the ammunition unit in a vertical plane through the central axis of the barrel to a position directly behind the barrel, when the swing arm is pivoted to its delivery position. By this means, a simple and compact loading mechanism is achieved, which can directly transfer an ammunition unit from a magazine to a loading position behind the gun by movement of the ammunition unit in a single vertical plane which essentially coincides with a vertical plane through the longitudinal central axis of the barrel.
A preferred characteristic common to the various embodiments of the arrangement according to the invention, is that the ammunition pickup unit is arranged to be brought to the first angular position by making contact with a fixed contact surface inside the gun turret. In addition, the ammunition pickup unit is preferably urged towards the second angular position by means of the force of a spring device, when the unit is not in contact with the contact surface. Alternatively, the ammunition pickup unit can be mounted in such a way on the swing arm that it can be brought towards the second angular position by the force of gravity acting on the unit and the shell located therein, when the unit is not in contact with the contact surface.
Further characteristics and advantages of the arrangement according to the invention will be revealed in greater detail in the following detailed description with reference to the attached drawings.